Momma Wolf Spider

On May 28, 2020May 22, 2020 By CarynIn Wildlife

Ok, so now that you’ve shuddered after imagining all those babies on her back making a run for it, you probably don’t want to read further about the Wolf Spider. So I’ll let you look it up. I will share that my husband found her, we all paraded out to see her, because, wow, and my youngest, upon seeing it, said “We need to move.” Yes, the spider was on our house, hanging out in the shade of the honeysuckle (the bricks are 2 3/4″ tall high). I took the image with the longest lens I have, and although I wanted the image to be sharper, no way was I going to piss her off by getting closer. Sleep tight! (And as a final note, wolf spiders are a beneficial species, so we just left her alone.)

Stick horse

On May 27, 2020May 22, 2020 By CarynIn Flora

When working from home, my husband spotted this branch out the window that looks very much like a rearing horse. He spotted it at the beginning of all the quarantine stuff, and I just pulled the image off my camera. How is your routine going?

Fish

On May 26, 2020May 22, 2020 By CarynIn Wildlife

So my eldest was taking pictures in the back woods for a school art project and found fish in the tiny stream! I’m not sure how the raccoons haven’t caught them; there isn’t but a couple inches of water. In fact, as she was looking, one of the fish beached itself trying to get away. She helped it back into the water.

Beached minnow (photo credit to my eldest)

Minnow under a stick (photo credit to my eldest)

Fawn Alpaca Fleece

On May 25, 2020May 22, 2020 By CarynIn Craft

Washed fleece (top left), darker fawn carded (top right), lighter fawn carded (bottom)

For my next yarn color it was time to use Donna Bella’s fleece (a fawn colored alpaca from Alpacas of Aledo). I was not planning on blending this round, but as I was carding I noticed a distinct color difference in some of the rolags (the roll of fiber that comes off the carder). So I separated the lightest and darkest colors and will spin them separately. I’m also going to reduce the number of rolags I spin per spindle to 10 to lighten the weight when I ply the last bits. (I used 12 rolags per spindle for the dark brown and fawn blend.)

New journal

On May 24, 2020May 22, 2020 By CarynIn Tools

I’m so excited. There is nothing quite like starting on a new journal! Brand new pages, an open slate stretching forward in time. I use the journal as my memory, not to record every moment, but to recap events so I can look them up. It is not a diary, not a bullet journal (although I do sometimes have a doodle or two to make entries easier to find), and not a lab notebook (although that point could be argued about my past journals).

My new journal has a beautiful tree embossed on the cover and is the first one I’ve purchased online. It is more the size I usually use. When it was time to get my last journal, I had a terrible time finding one I liked. I ended up with a book twice as big and it took me over two years to fill it. The fabric cover wasn’t as durable, and the spine broke. Since the brick and mortar method of shopping failed me, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to risk an online journal purchase. We’ll see how it goes!